Doe Eye and His Autumn
by Cheer-The-Underdog-On
Summary: So the blond of spring and the crimson haired man of fall became a children's writer and a vendor of firewood. Seasons!Au Akuroku


Axel did not remember when he had first taken a tangible form. How many eons ago had it been that he had taken this shape? How long since he had adorned his hair with the color of the leaves ablaze and how many centuries had it been since his eyes had mirrored the last echoes of summer? He sat upon his throne as stoic as one could be when truly bored. "How much longer?" He whispered to himself.

Xion simply arched a brow, "How much longer until what?"

How hard it was to put into words the emotions that hung by fragile spider web fine threads within the caverns of his heart, "Until summer." He answered coolly, "As much as I love the company of you two lovely ladies, it would be nice to have some male camaraderie."

Kairi simply snorted, "I sympathize with you, Xion. Stuck here with two boys, how do you handle it?"

"They aren't so bad." A pale hand knocked back charcoal locks to reveal blue eyes, "Roxas is always so tired. His season seems so long in comparison. Him and I are out there forever it seems. Yours and Axel's seems brief in comparison."

"Perhaps because it is? Fall is not truly three months, neither is summer. Winter swallows those months and then melts into spring which nibbles weeks off of my work. Between the two of you, there is almost no remaining work for Axel and I~"

"Speak for yourself, Kairi." The taller redhead straightened some, "It is not easy to pluck leaves off of the trees and prepare the animals for hibernation. I do not like being cruel to them as I once did. Before I would frost the branches so the birds would be stuck there during the night, but killing things gives me no joy. It never truly did; it was simply something to dull the edge." Standing, he drew the hood of his earthen brown cloak up to hide his mop of crimson unruly hair, "I am going out. I shall return."

Watching him exit the throne room without word, Xion and Kairi simply shared a knowing look.

In Axel's experience, the only thing that gave him any joy was conversing with humans, but even that had reached an acme during the Renaissance period. It seemed that thoughts then were roaring off the flames that had sparked centuries ago. The current humans were still cruising on the cinders of such literary, artistic, and scientific discovery. He wished there was some way he could fan the flames, but it was not his place as a guardian of seasons. Instead, he was destined to mark the passing and waning of time. He was to offer a measuring stick to the humans of the frailty of their life, but they didn't seem upset (well most of them) of the sands of time slipping through the hour glass.

"Roxas," He called to the blond when he had found the boy sunbathing in a meadow, "No wonder your work takes so long." Axel gave a hearty laugh, "Look at you lazing here."

Blue eyes blinked slowly framed by strawberry lashes. Beneath them was a dusting of freckles that acted as constellations in the sky. There upon the teen's left cheek, Leo could be spotted along with Virgo in all her might on the right. Axel watched him sigh softly before watermelon pink lips split into a delicious smile, "I'm not lazing." A soft tenor danced through the air, "Think more of it as insuring the safety of this meadow. I'm not lazing; I'm just being dutiful." Roxas teased, "Come here." He outstretched a hand and raised it out to the redhead, "Dear friend."

Axel rolled his eyes and sat beside the boy, "How is it that you look younger than me, but are older, hmmm? How is that?" He himself always felt older than the blond, but it was simply another illusion.

Sweeping back stray locks of golden fluff, Roxas sighed softly, "Perhaps you worry too much?"

"Oh, yes. That's it. I worry too much and it has aged me." The redhead laughed, "You're the one who is always nagging me about deadlines."

"Deadlines indeed." The teen cupped his cheek, "Shouldn't you be meddling in some mortals business if you're bored? I'm a bit busy."

"I'm sure." Axel removed the hand gently and kissed the fingertips individually. It was a form of intimacy that he relished, and Roxas' cheeks colored a bit.

"I am. I still need to awake the bees to get everything into full swing." He puffed.

The taller man nodded slowly, "Perhaps you should go do that then." Chapped lips brushed against a tender palm. There was not a callous upon these hands, "You've softened me."

"You never loved the pain." Roxas stood, brushing stowaway grass off of his pants, "Fall wasn't meant to be bitter."

Pursing his lips, Axel held his breath, struggling to think of words to say, but before his brain could sputter thought into sound, Roxas had faded away into the world around him.

Left there with no one to talk to and nothing to do, he fell back to the city. Dressing himself as if an actor, he marched the streets with past lives to retell and memories to dramatize. Women loved it; some men laughed and joined in, but for Axel this was a shallow existence.

He couldn't wait for summer.

~o~

When Kairi finally yawned and stretched herself out, she grinned mischievously to them all, "Play nice while I'm gone! Don't let too much happen! No fighting!" Her orders although joking did have reason for cause, not that they had battled in a long time, and when they had, it had been between Xion and Kairi. Roxas and him had taken no sides.

Their wars were something of legend; gods battling out for the seasons to change. Farmers weeping in sun baked fields or shivering within their cottages wondering when winter would end. During those times, Roxas and him had avoided speaking to their female counterparts at all. It had finally been the blond who had snapped and declared that if Xion and Kairi did not allow the seasons to change, he would bring about a plague.

They had laughed, but Axel quickly had learned that the Spring guardian only spoke what he meant to enforce. From then on, whenever disputes erupted in the throne room, Roxas ended it by forcing them to witness the death of innocents. "This is what your bickering brings about. If not by plague then by famine."

They had all minded their tongue a bit more closely after that.

Axel had been dozing as his thoughts wandered, and he was brought back with whiplash to reality by Xion's sweet voice breaking the tidal wave of silence, "I think I'm going to go rest. I'm quite tired. I'm retiring early today."

With this unusual occurrence, Axel called out to her, "Are you feeling alright?"

She nodded, "Nothing that a nap can't fix."

That...Left the two of them absolutely alone. The redhead gave his friend a longing look to which Roxas was oblivious. Heartbroken, the taller man released a long sigh, "What are you avoiding?"

Roxas finally met his eyes, "Avoiding? I'm not avoiding anything."

"No, no you're avoiding something. I should have figured it out a few years ago when you stopped kissing me. What is it?"

"It's nothing. Honestly." The blond glared at him before turning expressionless again.

"Roxas, don't do this to me. Tell me." A note of desperation had risen in his voice, and he clawed for the truth.

The blond spoke sharply, "I'm tired."

Tired? Then go to sleep, it wasn't that hard to do. Axel growled inwardly to himself about what made Roxas thinking that he was justified on taking it out on him. "Then go to sleep." He rolled his eyes.

"No! I'm tired of this! I'm tired of you!"

Well that changed the game entirely.

"I'm tired of you not making up your mind and being wishy washy! One day you're kissing and cuddling me, but then the next, you seem disinterested and void of affection! What is wrong with you? Has your apathy really permeated so deeply into your soul that life is of no consequence to you? There are still things to do! There is still art to see and music to hear and people to talk to, so why do you act like that's all in the past?"

Axel's mouth hung agape for a few seconds, "I have not once given off the impression that I don't want you."

"But you don't want the people! You don't want life! And that's what I am, Axel! I bring life! I once told you that you don't take life away. You simply save it. You put the world to bed, but you do not seem to live by those words anymore. You're draining me, and I don't know what to do about it. I- I love you, but you're making it hard for me to keep excusing your listlessness."

The redhead paused, "Roxas, I didn't- How long have you assumed that I've been like this?"

"Years now!" He cried, "And I haven't 'assumed', I know!"

It was true. If anyone understood the inner workings of his heart, it was Roxas with his cherry lips and his sky colored eyes. Standing, Axel crossed the gap to the blond's seat that was separated by Kairi's chair and connected their lips, "Then you should have said something sooner." He laughed, "Perhaps I am not bored of people. I am just weary and need a new way of being entertained. My heart has been troubled lately, but it is you that has caused the storm. I want...I want to go to the human world with you. I want us to stop meeting in fields and on top of mountains. I want to go dancing, enjoy opera and art, and food with you! I may have enjoyed these things alone, but being alone has its season. I want you to be by my side. I want to give up being a guardian of seasons. Would you follow me? Would you give up immortality to be by my side?"

Roxas bided over his time before answering. Then, the same way the first flowers of spring burst through a layer of snow, his response became clear as he blushed and kissed his lover again, "And I want to be by yours."

Cupping the blond's face, Axel pulled him to his feet. His soul now felt liberated of the cracks that had been infiltrating before, "You're such a dork." He laughed, giving the freckled dandelion haired boy an eskimo kiss, "Really quite truly."

"I suppose we must make arrangements first." Roxas ignored his comments, "We need to decide what we want to do and how to do it and where to go and how to resign." Never in the history of the world had a guardian of anything resigned. Some new positions had opened across the ages and been filled, but no one had ever resigned. The teen's mind mulled over that as the redhead gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

"And I'm the one that stresses." Axel snorted, "You've always liked children, love. Why don't you work with them? I'm sure we can find residency in a land we like easily enough."

"And if anyone knows about trees and wildlife, it is you, Axel." Roxas countered back sweetly, "So perhaps you work in forestry?"

~o~

The blond of spring and the crimson haired man of fall became a children's writer and a vendor of firewood.

Quite truthfully, as Axel strode quietly across the soft carpet of a bookstore to watch Roxas read to children aloud his new book, he couldn't have felt more satisfied at giving up a shallow life for a brief one of meaning.

"And that's how the doe eyed fawn and his Autumn met." Roxas looked up into the audience before spotting his lover and giving him a knowing look.

Axel chuckled softly and couldn't help but whisper the words to a story he had memorized to the letter long ago in unison with the other.

"The end."

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**Short story written on impulse. My friend Brooke, omgyouarecute on tumblr betaed! Read and review :3**


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